


Christmas Doesn't Need Magic (to be Magical)

by Gemfae



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Cute Teddy Lupin, Doing Christmas the Muggle Way, Fluff, Healer Draco Malfoy, M/M, Wandmaker Harry Potter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:27:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27837550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gemfae/pseuds/Gemfae
Summary: A brief glimpse into Draco and Harry's relationship during the Christmas season, on a year when Harry convinces Draco to do everything without magic.*Rating is for mentions of sex, just to be on the safe side.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Comments: 2
Kudos: 35
Collections: Harry/Draco Owlpost 2020





	Christmas Doesn't Need Magic (to be Magical)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [FreddieFoxBaxter](https://archiveofourown.org/users/FreddieFoxBaxter/gifts).



> For Freddie_Fox: I combined a couple of your prompts to have Harry and Draco decorating for Christmas. Also bringing you Healer Draco (but he's off work for the holidays) and a glimpse of Wandmaker Harry. Hope you enjoy!

Draco stood in the doorway of the living room, watching as Harry and Teddy worked on creating their own Christmas ornaments. Harry had talked Draco into celebrating Christmas the Muggle way, and that evidently included handmade ornaments. It also included chopping down a tree (although Draco convinced Harry to let him transport it with magic instead, seeing no point in killing a tree just for decoration; this way, after the holiday, the tree could be replanted.), stringing up lights, and using stencils and a can of fake snow to make winter scenes on the windows. It was all a little odd, but Draco supposed it was charming in its own way. Even if he had no desire to celebrate anything the Muggle way, he would never deny Harry his wish; after learning about the deprivation Harry suffered while living with his Muggle relatives, Draco found it hard to deny his fiancé anything he wanted. Honestly, most days Draco still couldn’t believe he and Harry were actually together, happily sharing a home. They been together for four years now, and it all started with Draco needing a new wand.

A couple years after the war, Draco had been out in the gardens behind Malfoy Manor, trying to cast a Patronus, when one of Lucius’ stupid peacocks had become offended and snatched the wand from him. Draco had immediately chased the bird down, and the menace dropped the wand with an angry screech before running off again. When Draco picked the hawthorn wand up off the ground, he discovered that it had somehow been snapped in half and was only held together by the unicorn tail hair in its core.

Needing a new wand, and not wanting to chance Ollivander’s as the man had been held prisoner in the manor during the war, Draco decided to try the new shop he had heard about, called Custom Wands and Magical Foci. When he entered the shop, he was surprised to find that Harry Potter was the owner- and that the brunet crafted all the wands himself. Draco had almost turned to leave, thinking that he would be better off getting a wand in France or Germany, but Harry had called him back, promising to be professional. Draco decided to take a chance and let Harry craft a custom wand for him. His ex-rival offered more wand core options than could be found at Ollivander’s, and Draco found out that a lot of the wand cores were gifts from Luna and her boyfriend Rolf Scamander. Harry owned a grove of wand wood trees, which he had found on one of the properties he inherited from his paternal great-grandmother’s family, the Fleamonts. Harry had hired Longbottom to help care for the trees, and he made additional money by occasionally allowing other wand makers to harvest magical wood from his grove.

All of that meant that Harry had several different components available for wand crafting, and thus each wand was completely unique. Harry’s crafting method was also different from other wandmakers, as the only tool he used to craft wands was his own magic. Harry also enjoyed experimenting with combining different wand cores, and he was one of the few wandmakers that used crystals in his crafting. Because of Harry’s specialized process, it took nearly two weeks for Draco’s new wand to be finished.

First, Harry had Draco come into a storage room where the brunet cast a spell to find the wood that was most compatible with Draco. He did the same with the wand cores on the other side of the room, and then placed all the wand components- which Draco had been unable to see due to an obscuring charm on all the shelves, to prevent him from subconsciously making his magic react to a component that would not truly be compatible with him- in a black silk bag that Draco was instructed to keep with him at all times for the next twenty-four hours. When Draco came back the next day, Harry took the bag and told Draco to come back again in three days to make sure the components still resonated with him. There were no issues when Draco returned, so Harry finally began crafting the wand.

Five days later, Draco was asked to come back into the shop for the final stage of the crafting-this would make sure that the wand was customized for Draco. Harry brought Draco into his work room this time and had him sit on a cushion in the middle of a ritual circle embedded in the floor. Then, Draco had watched in awe as Harry used magic to bind all the wand components together, the glow from Harry’s magic still preventing Draco from seeing the different components. Harry’s magic was heavy in the room, and Draco felt almost intoxicated as he watched the brunet work. The magic flashed silver, purple, blue, and green, and Draco’s hair stood on end-it was similar to the way he felt during a lightning storm. Draco watched as fire sank into his wand, leaving behind runes that glowed red for a moment, before molten silver covered and illuminated the runes. The wand was then hidden in a sphere of bright white light, and Draco felt as if part of him was reaching out to the wand. When the sphere faded away, the wand dropped out of the air in front of Draco, and his hand shot out to catch it before it could hit the ground.

As soon as his fingers wrapped around the pale wood, Draco traced his wand through the air and cast a Patronus; for the first time, it was successful, and he watched in silent awe as a feathered serpent appeared. The serpent was only a few inches long at first, but it quickly grew until it was large enough to coil around Draco protectively. Once it realized there was no threat, the occamy faded away.

Then, Harry told Draco that his new wand was white ash and was one of the few Harry had crafted with a triple core. The main core was an occamy feather drenched in phoenix tears, and it was melded with a single scale from an Antipodean Opal Eye. When he found out the components of his wand, Draco couldn’t help but smile; the ash wood, occamy feather, and phoenix tears all worked best for individuals who wanted to be healers-and Draco was two years into his healer training. The dragon scale, Draco knew, indicated protection of the things that were important to him. Altogether, Draco couldn’t have designed a better wand for himself.

Somehow, the discussion of Draco’s new wand led to a discussion about career choices and, before he knew it, Draco was agreeing to have dinner with Harry. What started as friendship quickly evolved into a romantic relationship. A year after getting his new wand, Draco moved into Hallow Hall, Harry’s home on the Peverell Estate. Then, earlier this year, Draco had, for once, been the courageous one, and asked Harry to marry him. Harry had, thankfully, said yes, and they planned to hold the ceremony-open to friends and family only-the following summer.

“Draco!” Teddy’s happy cry drew Draco out of his thoughts, and he smiled at the seven-year-old as he fully entered the room.

“Hello, Teddy,” Draco greeted his young cousin, ruffling the boy’s gold-and-silver hair, before leaning over to give Harry a kiss on the cheek, “Hello, love. Are you two having fun?”

“Lots of fun!” Teddy confirmed, “Look! I made Santa! And a snowman! See my snowflakes?” Teddy shoved all the decorations in Draco’s direction, and the blond had to smile at the childish enthusiasm.

“Those are very nice,” Draco complimented, “They will look great on the tree. And what did Uncle Harry make?” Draco looked over at his fiancé and saw that Harry had made a gingerbread man ornament, a reindeer head with a red nose, and several snowflakes. “Yours are very nice too, love,” Draco smirked.

“Thanks, dear,” Harry said drily, before smiling, “I’m glad you’re home. You’re off for the next two weeks, right?”

“Barring any massive emergencies, I do not return to work until the second week of January,” Draco confirmed, “Healer Meadows made sure that I am the last name on the St. Mungo’s emergency roster this year.”

“Great,” Harry grinned, “That means you can help us finish decorating, right Teddy?”

“Yeah!” Teddy started bouncing in his seat, “Can we do the tree now, Uncle Harry? You said we had to wait for Uncle Draco to help, but he’s here now, so can we?”

“How about we decorate the tree after supper?” Harry suggested, “You don’t want Kreacher to make you stop decorating just so you can eat, do you?”

“I guess not,” Teddy pouted, “You promise we’ll do it after supper?”

“The minute everyone has finished eating,” Draco said, “I’m going to take a shower and change; why don’t you two make a few more ornaments, and supper should be ready for us by the time I come back down.”

“Okay!” Teddy agreed, “I want to make…bells! Can you show me how to make bells, Uncle Harry?”

After supper Harry, Draco, and Teddy went to the family room, where their undecorated Christmas tree was set up to the left of the fireplace, in front of a window overlooking the back garden. Next to the tree, were the brand-new lights Harry and Draco had purchased a few weeks ago. Teddy was settled on a nearby chair with a cup of hot cocoa, while Draco and Harry worked to layer the lights on their fifteen-foot pine tree. Draco had pointed out that it would be easier with magic, but Harry had refused; instead they had a large ladder (from the Rose Suchak Ladder Co.), and Draco somehow found himself climbing up it to make sure the lights were wound all the way to the top of the tree. It was annoying, and Draco once thought about just knocking the tree over, but Harry’s laughter and Teddy cheering him on made the situation worth it.

When the last of the lights were strung on the tree, Draco climbed back down the ladder and stood back to let Harry and Teddy place their handmade ornaments on the tree. The two discussed the placement of each ornament, asking for Draco’s opinion when they couldn’t agree, and soon the tree had several ornaments made of felt, paper, and glitter. Next was the container of store-bought ornaments; Draco made Harry climb the ladder this time, and he helped Teddy place the ornaments on the lower branches.

“Now, for the fun part,” Harry grinned, pulling out packages of tinsel in red, green, silver, gold, blue, and a final pack that started out white but Harry charmed black so that all the Hogwarts houses were represented.

“Everyone pick two colors, and start throwing it on the tree,” Harry instructed, demonstrating with the red tinsel. Draco was skeptic, but he took a handful of silver tinsel and tossed it at the tree, shaking his head when half of it fell back on the ground. Harry and Teddy were laughing and throwing their own tinsel, so Draco shrugged and tossed more on the tree, before climbing the ladder and draping some tinsel over the top sections. Harry and Teddy passed some of the other colors of tinsel up to him, and Draco covered the branches; when he was done, the tree was barely visible under its cover of tinsel.

“Stay up there, Draco,” Harry called, “I’m sending Teddy up so you can help him put the topper on the tree.” Harry climbed up the ladder right behind Teddy, and handed Draco the topper, which was a wire star wrapped in silver tinsel with multi-colored lights around the edge. Draco held onto Teddy as the seven-year-old leaned over to place the star on the very top of the tree, and the young Metamorphmagus cheered when it was done.

“Good job Teddy!” Harry praised, “If you ask nicely, maybe Uncle Draco will let you take the fun way down.”

“Can I please, Uncle Draco?” Teddy asked, his silver-and-gold hair changing to match Draco’s own platinum locks, while Teddy’s eyes turned the same emerald as Harry’s, “Please let me take the fun way down.”

“Well, I suppose you can take the fun way,” Draco said, then leaned in to whisper, “But you have to aim for Uncle Harry, deal?”

“Deal!” Teddy giggled, and Draco drew his wand to cast a feather-light charm on his cousin.

“Ready?” Draco asked, and Teddy nodded, “Okay, here we…go!” Draco tossed Teddy off the ladder, and the boy screamed with joy as he floated towards the ground, where Harry was waiting to catch him. Teddy wrapped his arms around Harry’s neck and his legs around the brunet’s waist, then laughed even louder when Draco canceled the feather-light charm, causing Harry to fall backwards with a surprised shout. Instead of meeting the hard floor, however, Harry sank into a cushioning charm, and he glared up at his fiancé, who laughed as he cast the feather-light charm on himself before jumping to the ground.

“I am so going to pay you back for that,” Harry threatened, getting up and canceling the cushioning charm on the floor. Draco responded by blowing Harry a kiss, as Teddy tugged on the brunet’s arm.

“That was fun, Uncle Harry! Can I do it again, please?”

“Not tonight,” Harry said, checking the time, “It’s getting late, and your Gran is coming to pick you up in the morning, remember?”

“We’re going to watch Christmas cartoons at the cinema!” Teddy said, “It’s going to be so much fun! Aunt Fleur is bringing Victoire, too! You and Uncle Draco should come!”

“Maybe next time,” Draco said, “Harry and I have to finish getting the house ready so that you and Andy can spend Christmas with us. Next time you come over, you can tell us all about the cartoons, okay?”

“Okay,” Teddy agreed, and Draco gave silent thanks that Teddy was such an easy-going child.

“Come on, Teddy bear,” Harry said, “Let’s get ready for bed; if you hurry up and get in your pajamas and brush your teeth, Draco and I will read you a story.”

“You can read my new book!” Teddy exclaimed, “I saw the movie with Uncle George, and he bought me the book about it! It’s my favorite Christmas story ever!”

An hour later, Harry and Draco were finally able to get ready for bed themselves.

“A Christmas story about skeletons and monsters,” Draco shook his head as he changed into his pajamas, “Do you think the author was on drugs?”

“I don’t know,” Harry replied, “I do kind of want to watch the movie now, though. I’m just surprised Teddy liked it; it seemed a little…dark for a kid. Especially that boogie monster, and Jack getting shot out of the sky.”

“Kids are weird,” Draco agreed, “So, love, what are we doing tomorrow?”

“Well, I’m going to bake some gingerbread,” Harry said, “When Teddy and Andromeda come over, we can make a gingerbread house, and I’ll make some gingerbread men to decorate too. We also need to wrap the presents and put them under the tree and hang up the garland and wreaths. We’re doing it all without magic again, too. Oh, and tomorrow night I’m going to get started on Christmas dinner; there’s a lot of stuff I can start ahead of time, so it doesn’t take as long to cook on Christmas day.”

“Since you and Andy are cooking Christmas dinner, I can make breakfast that morning,” Draco offered, “Pancakes, eggs, bacon, and fresh fruit?”

“Sounds good,” Harry smiled, “And to think, three years ago, you couldn’t even cook with magic- now you can make a whole meal without it.”

“I am a man of many talents,” Draco said, then sighed as he dropped down onto the mattress, “I am also exhausted. That sixteen-hour shift was brutal; I would have fallen asleep in the shower, if not for that dose of restorative potion.”

“Which is probably starting to wear off right about now,” Harry said, and Draco nodded, his eyes already feeling heavy, “Go to sleep, love,” Harry said, “I’ll make sure you wake up enough to tell Teddy bye in the morning.”

Draco wasn’t even aware of falling asleep, but the next thing he knew, he was being woken up by Teddy, who was getting ready to leave with his grandmother. Draco vaguely remembered telling Teddy goodbye before falling back asleep. It was almost noon the next time Draco woke, and he felt well-rested enough to get up.

Draco and Harry spent the whole day making preparations for Christmas. Harry stayed in the kitchen watching over his food most of the day, while Draco roamed the house putting up the rest of the decorations-garland on the banisters and around the windows in the main rooms, and wreaths on all the exterior doors. Then, Draco settled down in the family room with presents, wrapping paper, scissors, boxes, tape, bows, and tissue paper. It took him a few hours, with Harry helping while he waited to switch out trays in the oven, but all the presents were wrapped by suppertime. Draco admitted that his presents weren’t the most aesthetically pleasing- he used a lot of tape, bows, and scraps of paper to make sure the gift wasn’t visible- but at least they were all finished. He decided it didn’t really matter how the paper looked anyway, as it was just going to be ripped off and thrown away in a few days.

** ** **

Christmas Eve finally came, and with it came Andromeda and Teddy, along with Draco’s parents. They had discussed inviting Hermione and the Weasley’s, but they decided that they didn’t want to risk a fight breaking out and ruining Christmas for Teddy. Instead, Harry and Draco were going over to the Burrow the day after Christmas. The small group spent the afternoon decorating gingerbread men and building a gingerbread village. Each person had their own gingerbread house assembled by Harry the night before, and they decorated it with the various sweets on the table. Draco was surprised, and pleased, that his father joined in- and even seemed to enjoy himself. Once the decorating was done, Andromeda took Teddy for a bath, as he had gotten more icing and candy in his hair than on the gingerbread house.

That evening they had a light supper, and then sat in the family room telling stories as they enjoyed cups of hot cocoa before bed. Andromeda read the Night Before Christmas, and then Teddy wanted to hear his new favorite Christmas story. Grandpa Lucius got volunteered to read the book, and it was funny to watch his expression as he read about a talking skeleton trying to steal Christmas from Santa.

After the cocoa was gone, it was time for bed. Andromeda tucked Teddy in, then retired to the room next to Teddy’s. Lucius and Narcissa had a room across from Andromeda, and Harry and Draco shared the master bedroom at the end of the hall.

“You know, tonight went a lot better than I thought it would,” Harry said, joining Draco by the window that overlooked the woods on the edge of the property, “I honestly expected your parents to hate the Muggle Christmas decorations.”

“I admit, I thought Father at least would have some complaints,” Draco admitted, wrapping an arm around Harry’s waist and drawing him closer, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him enjoy himself as much as he did tonight. Did you see his expression when he was reading Teddy’s story?”

“You mean the ‘what the hell are these people teaching this boy’ look?” Harry laughed, and Draco nodded, “Watching your dad decorate a gingerbread house was even weirder.”

“No,” Draco disagreed, “Watching him enjoy decorating the gingerbread house was weird.”

“Did you see the way your mom looked at the presents?” Harry asked.

“Oh yes,” Draco chuckled, “I fully expect Mother to sneak downstairs while we are sleeping and use magic to fix the wrapping paper.”

“She better not,” Harry grumbled, “No magic allowed, remember?”

“Yes, but Mother might choose to disregard that,” Draco said, “She is very particular about appearances.” The two stood together in silence for a few minutes, Harry leaning his head against Draco’s shoulder as they looked out at the moonlit landscape. Eventually Draco sighed, causing Harry to tilt his head back to look at the blond. Draco took the opportunity to lean down and kiss his fiancé, enjoying the feeling of Harry in his arms as they had been too busy to relax over the past few days. After a few minutes, Harry broke the kiss and stepped back, holding Draco’s hand, and crossing towards the bed.

“Come on, love,” Harry said, “We should go to bed; you promised everyone breakfast in the morning, and I expect a certain seven-year-old to wake us up at dawn.”

“We should have spelled him to sleep until at least eight,” Draco grumbled, even as he climbed into bed with Harry. They lay down with Harry’s head on Draco’s shoulder, and the warm comforter pulled up to their chins. “I can’t believe I’ve been off work for a whole five days and we haven’t had sex once,” Draco pouted, “You’ve kept us so busy getting ready for Christmas that we haven’t had any time to relax.”

“Well, everyone is leaving after dinner tomorrow,” Harry said, “We can use magic to clean after everyone’s gone, and then we’ll have the house to ourselves for the rest of the night, and we don’t have to be at the Burrow until suppertime the following day.”

“So, no big plans after our family leaves?” Draco asked.

“Oh, I have plans alright,” Harry replied, “I plan to give you a special gift for putting up with my silly Christmas demands.”

“They aren’t silly if they make you happy,” Draco returned, then smirked into Harry’s thick locks, “Of course, I’d never turn down a special gift from you. You wouldn’t want to give me a hint about what it is, would you?”

Harry’s response was to sit up, then lean over Draco and capture his lips in a slow, heated kiss. When Draco tried to deepen the kiss, Harry drew back with a smirk.

“Let’s just say your gift has something to do with finishing what that kiss started,” Harry replied, curling up beside Draco again.

“Tease,” Draco murmured, tugging on Harry’s hair.

“Not a tease since I plan to deliver on my promise,” Harry retorted, digging his chin into Draco’s shoulder in retaliation.

“Hmm, I’ll hold you to that promise,” Draco said, tucking Harry’s head under his chin. Harry, who had woken up at dawn to make sure everything was ready for their guests, fell asleep after a few minutes of silence. Draco found himself thinking back over the past few days, and he had to admit that there was a certain charm to doing some things the Muggle way. He didn’t think he would want to do a fully Muggle Christmas again, but it might be nice to keep some of things they had done. He’d like for Teddy and Harry to make more Christmas decorations, and they could decorate a gingerbread village every year. Even decorating the tree without magic had been kind of fun, but Draco thought it would be easier to decorate a slightly smaller tree-maybe eight or nine feet instead of fifteen. Maybe next year they could even have two trees; they could decorate one with magic, and one without. Harry and Draco would be married by next Christmas, so maybe they could start their own traditions with Teddy…

Draco slipped off to sleep where he dreamed of future Christmases with his soon-to-be-husband and, when their guests left after Christmas dinner, Draco thought to himself that there was something magical about a Muggle Christmas after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, Teddy loves The Nightmare Before Christmas, which happens to be my four-year-old niece's favorite movie right now, with Coraline being her second favorite. As Draco said, kids are weird.


End file.
